Applied Materials joins EMC-3D equipment and materials consortium

International Alliance Focused on Developing Cost-Effective
Through-Silicon Via (TSV)
Technology for Next Generation Chips and Sensors

SANTA CLARA, California, February 24, 2009 - The
international EMC-3D semiconductor equipment and materials consortium today
announced that Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) has joined the
organization. As the industry's leading provider of nanomanufacturing
technology solutions, Applied offers critical process and integration
expertise in the fields of etching, dielectric and metal deposition,
chemical-mechanical polishing, metrology, and inspection. These
capabilities will be utilized for developing a cost-effective and
manufacturable through-silicon via (TSV) process flow for 3D* chip stacking
and MEMS* integration.

Through-silicon via technology is a new method of combining integrated
circuits in a vertical stack to enable high functionality and low power
consumption in a small footprint. While employing many standard chip
processes, TSVs present several new technical challenges for
production-worthy manufacturing: maintaining the structural and edge
integrity of thin wafers, stress and thermal profile control, via
processing and device reliability.

"Applied Materials sees the TSV approach as an important enabling
technology for tomorrow's sophisticated image sensors, memory and
mixed-signal applications," said Hans Stork, group vice president and CTO
of Applied's Silicon Systems Group. "Joining forces with other leading
equipment and materials suppliers is an effective way to qualify contiguous
processes, drive down the cost and enable the widespread adoption of TSV
technology. By deploying fabrication equipment, materials and process
technology from the EMC-3D member companies, our customers can take
advantage of a complete, validated process flow, greatly reducing their own
development time and initial investment."

"We're very pleased to bring Applied Materials into this consortium and
look forward to a productive relationship in developing cost-effective TSV
solutions for chip stacking applications," said Paul Siblerud, EMC-3D
chairman and vice president of marketing at Semitool (Nasdaq: SMTL).
"EMC-3D is currently at the mid-point of a three-year objective to bring
costeffective TSV to market. Each member is addressing the technical
integration challenges of TSV technology for chip stacking and advanced
MEMS/sensors packaging." The original goal of the consortium was to create
a robust integrated process flow at a cost of less than $200USD per wafer.
That goal has expanded to include both a via-first (iTSV™) and
vialast (pTSV™) process flow at a total cost of ownership (CoO) of
under $150USD.

About Applied Materials
Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the global leader in
Nanomanufacturing Technology™ solutions with a broad portfolio of
innovative equipment, service and software products for the fabrication of
semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells,
flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At Applied Materials, we
apply Nanomanufacturing Technology to improve the way people live. Learn
more at www.appliedmaterials.com.

About EMC3D
EMC3D (Semiconductor 3D Equipment and Materials Consortium) was created in
September 2006 to develop and market wafer level 3D chip stacking
technology by demonstrating a costeffective, manufacturable, stackable TSV
interconnection process for IC and MEMS/Sensor packaging. www.EMC3D.org